Blu-ray manufacturers are doing their part by lowering the cost of standalone Blu-ray players, but now it’s Hollywood’s turn to help out by cutting the price of Blu-ray movies.
Sure, there were movie deals available on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, but Blu-ray prices simply need to drop further to persuade consumers to purchase movies in Blu-ray. I wonder how many consumers are holding off from switching to Blu-ray just because the movie costs still are so much higher than DVDs.
I understand why Blu-ray costs more, but if studios are serious about Blu-ray as a legitimate format, there is simply no other alternative but to lower costs. It seems every major movie release features a commercial that mentions the movie’s availability in Blu-ray, so it’s not as if Hollywood is turning its collective back on the format.
Remember the days when Blu-ray and HD DVD were going head-to-head to compete, which meant we had fair prices? Those really were the golden days, but now that Blu-ray is the lone physical high-definition format, Hollywood apparently remains stubborn and refuses to lower Blu-ray prices.
Several movie studios previously discussed lowering prices in the future, but very little has been done to realistically help more people purchase Blu-ray movies. Even with lowered prices to help stimulate shopping during a rough economy, it’s still common to find most Blu-ray movies with price tags of $35 or more.
With the constant thread of digital movie downloads and streaming content directly into the living room, I’m surprised Blu-ray supporters haven’t tried harder to convince Hollywood to help drop prices.
Am I the only person not pleased by Hollywood’s apparent refusal to lower prices? What price point must Blu-ray movie titles reach before you hop on the Blu-ray bandwagon?
54 Comments
I dont think they will try to phase out DVD just so they could get you to switch to Bluray. DVD is still their gravy train and they would alienate alot of their market and lose mega revenue.
@psychoace
DVD's for 20-24 bucks? Where in the hell do you see that. Target sells new releases for $15 top and most of the old ones can be had for 10 or less. But then again, I just go down to my local Redbox location and rent the movie for a buck. If I like it, I just copy it but most of the time most movies arent worth a copy.
Given the average person weighs about 175lbs and 1 ton equates to 2240lbs, your saying you saw approximately 12 people buying HDTV's this past weekend..
When Blu-Ray discs drop to that range (and when the cracking software gets good enough that I can rip it to my PSP, iPod, and laptop without having to fork over more money), maybe I'll jump on board.
Until then, DVD is still good enough in my opinion.
but i don't mind paying the extra if i'm getting the extra quality!
http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Produc...1500317761.htm
I must say that I'm not a big fan of Bush, if you know what I mean (and I think that you do).
To think it would not decode the sound for the discs it is designed for is pretty sad. @ duke, yeah cought your drift immediatly! lol
But on Black Friday last week Amazon was selling Transformers Blu-ray 2 disc special edition for $9.99 and I missed it! Damn!
i personally feel that if i get a bluray for 15-18 pounds, then i'm quite happy, even if its from play.com/amazon/HMV and other online etc, coz some dvd's here are about about that price too, if you don't shop around!
If you think about it, the whole BR campaign is nothing more than trying to convince folks they "need" this clearer image. How much better the experience will be in 1080p- It's bullsh*t.
It doesn't seem to be working out too well....
Oh..."but now that Blu-ray is the lone physical high-definition format" LOL. dvd is high enough def for MANY peoples likes. And the format war IS FAR from over. Good luck beating dvd into submission
For all intents and purposes DVD's are a fine 'delivery medium' for most films. In the average viewing situation I do not think 5x the resolution equals 5x more enjoyment while watching most films. Honestly, blu-ray is already anachronistic. We already have downloadable hi-def and it's only going to get better.
If Hollywood wants to make money on their investment they need to price Blu-ray pretty much at DVD prices. Most up-resing players make Blu-ray really seem like the superfluous luxury that they are. Except with the intentionally down-graded DVD transfers (like the Last Harry Potter flick) up-rez players like the PS3 do a great job....
Robo Cop for over $30!?!?! Come on!
-brett
yet which would you rather have? a dodgy cheap 2 speaker stereo, or a 5.1 decent priced sound system?
and the same argument applys to video! what would you rather have? a crt tv with dvd quality pictures(if you're lucky), or 1080i HDTV, with either dvd upscale/bluray?
i'll easily pick the second option on both thanks!
its called cdfreaks, not economy freaks!
oh, and i'm a car park attendant, not a millionaire, but i am a videophile and audiophile, and i don't need to spend the earth on equipment, over here, HDTV's are standard and you cant buy a crt here! so whats the problem with getting your telly to use its potential, and besides, i don't need to use bluray all the time coz the bluray player also upscales standard dvd's! so if i can't buy a bluray film that month to build up my collection, then i'll get a dvd that nearly looks as good!
I am not a big contributor to charity normally, and like you I like to get a lot of the latest tech and I do so. But I have made several donations to our county food bank this year and last year as in this case the money seems to go right to the people that need it most, not some creep administrator in a 1200 dollar suit *cough* *United Way* *coughs*. We even are having food drives for the food bank at work for the past two years. It really is getting rough over here. Me and my wife are VERY lucky and are not affected by the madness right now, (actually, no one in our entire families are affected for some reason) but there are a lot of people here that are and they are kind of in shock as they don't understand why they cannot find work. It really sucks right now! I think this is why it's on folks minds now more than it used to be. At least in my case.
but if you learn to budget properly, then why not buy the things you want? and i'm very thankful i work in the National Health Service, as it is as safe a job as you can get these days!
but i feel that tuppenny's comments were a little one sided, and its people like me that will keep peoples jobs going, not by 'feeding sony', but by supporting the high street, or the shopworkers in the superstores down to store cleaners, by buying stuff, even if its tv's clothes or even blurays!
the only way people will get jobs in these hard times is that people are in jobs spend money!
so to summerise, if i spend my money on blurays, then i'm helping to pay a wage for someone to put food on their table!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC50F5pyMhI
i'm gettin waaay to long winded in my old age!
poor picture bad sound easly damaged.
dvd was a great leap forward. not so
blue ray yes it can give a better picture
but it is no way a great leap forward
more i have 1000+ dvds what replace them at the present costs
are you raving mad dvds at the moment will last
unlike vhs
http://club.cdfreaks.com/avatars/steveo119-375061.gif yeah rab, i understand what you're saying, but thats the beauty of it, you don't have to bin all your dvd's or replace them, coz the bluray players enhance your dvds to near HD anyway, its an added bonus. i personally want to build my bluray collection, but i'm not going to start buying bluray copies of the dvd's i already own, thats just daft!
DVD: The Dark Knight (Two-Disc Special Edition + Digital Copy) $20.99
Blu-ray The Dark Knight (+ Digital Copy and BD Live) [Blu-ray] $23.99
Only $3 more than DVD and you complain?
Then again I still like old movies too so maybe I'm just wierd that way. I've always thought this transition from quality products to 'UBER GRAPHICS' has been a bad one. Most new games look great but play like the hard side of a dog's shit. Most new movies are similar :P.
Dark Knight (one of the only titles I would buy on Blu-ray IF I had a HDTV set and a Blu-ray player). I have just done some 10 second research on amazon.com - and the DVD version is $13.99 - nobody cares about the extras disc (which is also a gigantic rip-off if you stop and think about it for a second) or a digital copy. So the DVD is almost HALF the price of the blu-ray version. Enough said.
however, i do have the luxury of not having the paramedics check for my visa card before my pulse, so i'll put up with the taxes!
at least i get the satisfaction that i kept some greasy spotted bloke in my local gamestation in a job!!
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